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3g-g
8th February 2006, 12:28 AM
For those that are unaware, the current frequency that the UMTS networks in the UK run at is around 2000Mhz, just slightly higher than the 1800Mhz GSM networks that T-Mobile and Orange also currently run. Now, if you're a Vodafone or O2 3G customer you may of noticed that your coverage (on 3G) is not as good as it seemed to be on 2G, that's because of the higher frequencies, something I think the cell & network planning departments in the the respective companies are probably finding difficult to get their heads around. However, all is not lost as you can see from the article below. UMTS HSDPA test calls have been carried out at 900Mhz, improving in building coverage by some 25%. If the operators were to implement this in outlying areas of sparse population, we could see UMTS coverage levels on par with the current GSM ones.


Nortel, Qualcomm and Orange have successfully completed UMTS and HSDPA calls in the 900 MHz band. W-CDMA in the 900 MHz band is a cost effective way to deliver nationwide high-speed wireless coverage. It achieves a 60 percent reduction in cell sites required to serve rural areas and delivers improved Quality of Service in urban areas by enhancing in-building penetration by 25 percent. The category 6 HSDPA calls, using the 16 QAM Modulation and reaching 3.6Mbps data rate, were completed using Nortel's commercial infrastructure technologies, mobile handsets based on Qualcomm's Mobile Station Modem MSM6280 chipset solution and Orange's 900 MHz spectrum.

"UMTS in the 900 MHz band is a complementary solution to existing 3G services that will enable Orange to provide high speed wireless Internet to both rural and urban areas of France, thereby enabling us to deliver a true nationwide UMTS/HSDPA service," said Vivek Badrinath, executive vice president, products, technology and innovation, Orange Group.

Nortel's innovations in spectral efficiency are the key enablers to liberate spectrum in the 900 MHz band, providing wireless operators with the capability to deploy W-CDMA in that band. The implementation of UMTS 900 is compatible with widely deployed Node B hardware for simplified integration. Qualcomm's Mobile Station Modem solutions for HSDPA were the first in the world to be commercially available, and data rates of up to 7.2 Mbps are supported by the company's HSDPA portfolio.

http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15760.php

Ben
8th February 2006, 08:19 PM
I wish Vodafone could use the 900MHz band for 3G... but they have the slight issue of it being their GSM band. Does anyone know if Vodafone own any other suitable bands for umphing out their 3G coverage in remote areas?

I certainly hope that we do see WCDMA appearing on other frequencies. The 2100MHz band seems pretty damn hopeless incase y'all hadn't noticed ;)

Fingers crossed, eh?

crowfield99
8th February 2006, 11:39 PM
Vodafone's 3G is bad, really bad. Well it seems that way where ever I go. I was in the centre of Manchester in the Arndale Centre and its just as bad! Even outdoors :(

Ben
8th February 2006, 11:51 PM
In terms of coverage I wholeheartedly agree! I do think the content and quality (when in coverage) is pretty damn good though. They could definitely benefit from using a lower frequency in the future for everywhere but the most densly populated areas really.

@NickyColman
9th February 2006, 12:14 AM
Is it possible for Vodafone to migrate 3G customers "down" to a lower band? Or is that just a stupid question LOL?

3g-g
9th February 2006, 12:16 AM
Voda and O2 have their main 900Mhz band and also a little bit of 1800Mhz for city centre coverage (on 2G). I wonder if there'd be any implications on them moving all their customers over to 3G, turning off the 2G GSM side of things and using that space for the 3G network before the licence runs out? Hmm... Have I just resolved all the worlds 3G networks coverage issues? I think I have!

Ben
9th February 2006, 10:51 AM
Looks like in the future we'll have quad band GSM and perhaps dual band or even tri band WCDMA all thrust into the same handsets for a time... it could all get rather messy!

Hands0n
9th February 2006, 03:43 PM
But as 3g-g hints, the limiter is going to be the licenced airspace availability. Once 3G is ubiquitous wont the 2G airspace be reclaimed by the Government for its next revenue-generating project?

3g-g
9th February 2006, 05:14 PM
But as 3g-g hints, the limiter is going to be the licenced airspace availability. Once 3G is ubiquitous wont the 2G airspace be reclaimed by the Government for its next revenue-generating project?

Yep, and no doubt sold at a huge premium. In saying that, there's also the analogue TV that's due to be turned off in the next 6 years or so isn't there? So, there maybe some room for jigging stuff about.

fat jez
9th February 2006, 09:44 PM
I can see a few problems with this. The first is as mentioned before - the spectrum is not licensed at 900MHz for UMTS, it is licensed for GSM. As there is no free spectrun at this frequency, only O2 or Vodafone could make use of it, assuming their license was changed.

Secondly, existing 3G handsets have their radio tuned to operate above 2GHz for 3G operation and for 900/1800/1900 for 2G. Assuming there are no physical reasons that a handset could not operate in 3G mode at 900MHz, you would need to reprogram the firmware for any customer who wanted to make use of this facility.

Cheers,
Jez